PM: Who is Oskar van Deventer, and why do his puzzles appear on your site?

AG: Oskar is a prolific puzzle-inventor from the Netherlands. Oskar's main passion is mechanical puzzles, but he also dreams up some wonderful virtual puzzle ideas. Puzzles that can't be built mechanically (or only using very special equipment such as 3D printers). He is very good at working at the boundary of what is mechanically possible, and making inspirational leaps between different realisations.

Until 2002 Oskar didn't know Java himself, so he would send me ideas that he thought would work well in software form. Now he tends to tackle the Java himself - and churns out a great deal more than me.

PM: Jimmy Stephens, Erich Friedman and Graham Rogers also have puzzles and applets featured on your site, even though they all have their own sites as well.

AG: That's just the web at work I think. It connects people, it makes it fast, easy and cheap to communicate, and ultimately makes it fast, easy and free to publish collaborative efforts. It's almost impossible to build a website and not inspire, or be inspired, by others along the way.

PM: So what puzzles challenge you?

AG: I enjoy all puzzles, though my solving skills are only poor to average! My favourite puzzles are inevitably the route-finding puzzles - so anything where I can see a maze forms part of the underlying challenge.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5